


Prodigal Son

by MrsMoriarty



Category: Home Improvement (TV)
Genre: Coming Out, Gen, Homophobia, M/M, Tim being an idiot, teenage angst, tw: homophobic jokes and language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 18:09:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16938156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrsMoriarty/pseuds/MrsMoriarty
Summary: When Brad comes out of the closet it's hard for Tim to accept his son. How will he sort his problems out this time?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My English is incredibly rusty, so there will be a) lots of mistakes, b) weird-sounding choices of words and c) given the fact that German is my first language, way too many commas and in places you wouldn't normally expect them.
> 
> Please feel free to tell me what I need to change!

“What do you call a homosexual dentist? Tooth fairy!“ Tim doesn’t wait for a reaction, his laughter already eats away half of the punch line. Jill shoots him a half-amused, half-judging glare, as she always does to remind him who is the sensible one `round here. Marc joins his father in vivid awe of his wits, but Randy stops eating his meatloaf and stares for a second in disbelief at his father, who, of course, doesn’t realise anything.

Then Randy drops his fork loudly, making the whole family jerk. “Seriously?”

Tim is taken aback, for a second at least. “What?” He shrugs non-chalantly. “Did you know that one already? Because I have plenty more. The guys at the shop wouldn’t stop. So, How many gays does it take to screw in a lightbulb?”

“No!” Randy interjects. “That’s not what this is about. Those jokes…”, he searches for words fit to the academic lecture he is sure to give them. “They are disgusting.”

“What? Why?” Tim shoves another bite into his mouth.

“Because they are dumb and ignorant and play with people’s fear of anything that’s a tad bit away from their tiny cozy lives. It’s homophobic and plainly offensive!”

“What, you call me stupid?” Now there’s some slight irritation in Tim’s voice. “Just because I make some jokes about those queens?”

Randy slams the fork down on the table and rises. His older brother, who has been silently examining his dinner so far, tries to stop him. “Randy, it’s okay. You know people say stuff like that.”

Randy looks at Brad, completely incredulous. “You know what, Brad? No, it isn’t. I’ve had it up to here. Everybody’s excusing those kind of things. People at school, people in media, people in our lives…but people can go screw themselves. And you, as our father, should be a role-model. So, no, it’s not okay to make those jokes.”

Tim looks at his son and for a second it seems he is about to agree, but “What?”, he taunts, “Is this one of your new projects? Saving the gays? Because, boy do I have some bad news for you about populating the wildlife park you built for them.”

The laughter he waits for does not come, not even from Marc and Randy just shakes his head, but Brad rises, eyes fixed on his plate. “Excuse me, I think, I’ll go upstairs.” And with that he has dumped the dishes in the sink and headed for his room taking three steps at a time.

Once he’s up the stairs Tim seems a bit helpless. “What the heck was that about? He’s usually not one to mind my banter…”

But his wife, who usually has all the answers when he has made a fool of himself, doesn’t answer, just raises her eyebrow.

“You can be such an asshole, sometimes!”, Randy spits into the silence that has descended onto the family’s gathering. Before his father can reprimand him for his tone, the younger one has followed his older brother.  
He expects to find Brad slouched melodramatically over his bed, face buried in the pillow or something. But that’s not his brother, not his sunny-boy, star of the school team, brawn-over-brain dickhead of a brother.  
Instead, Brad just sits on his chair, leaning back so far that he topples almost over and stares at the ceiling, like it holds the answer to all of life’s mysteries for him to discover.

Randy knocks, even though the door is open, and Brad, who has obviously heard him approach, snorts: “Ever since when do you respect my privacy?”

“Sorry for being considerate!”, Randy retorts and flops down on Brad’s bed. “You know I was just trying to show I care about your well-being.”

That makes Brad drag his gaze away from the truly inspiring ceiling and huff at Randy. “That was the worst transition I ever heard. Even for you that was bad.”

Randy lies in silence for a second. “I know. I mean, come on…I’m not so good at this either.”

“Not good? Randy, you practically live for cheesy and unasked for sermons.” And at least there is a slight hint of a smile on his face, so his brother considers this a small victory.

“I do not!” But taking a look at Brad’s incredulous expression, he corrects. “Well maybe, a tiny little bit. But not with you. You are my bigger brother, which makes it my duty to make your life as miserable as humanly possible. So sorry if I don’t know how to talk about your feelings. Are you sure you don’t wanna talk to mom about this?”, he adds waiting for the terror to spread in Brad’s face.

He is rewarded instantly. “Oh, hell no! She would probably make me lie on a couch!”

Randy starts giggling at that mental image. “And how does that make you feel, Brad?”

The answer comes in form of 160 pounds of brother that flounces down on him and pulls him into a headlock. Randy screeches and struggles for freedom but it takes him a full five minutes to escape. When he finally does the two brothers continue lying next to each other both heaving but a bit more relaxed than before.

“Honestly? It makes me feel like shit.” It surprises Randy, this seriousness in his brother’s voice, his brother who usually thinks the biggest tragedy in life is a lost soccer match and whom he didn’t really believe to have feelings at all, until he ran into him snogging their school’s quarterback in the changing rooms a week ago.

“But why? I thought you and Jason were fine. Considering the circumstances.”

“We are, considering.” Brad sighs heavily and again fixes a distinct point a million miles away. This isn’t easy for him, too.

“Do any of your friends know?” Randy tries to keep the conversation going.

“U-hmm.” Silence.

“Plan on elaborating?”

Again Brad sighs but he continues: “His team knows and they are fine. Apparently football players are the more liberal crowd in high school nowadays. And his parents. They are so extremely tolerant, it makes you vomit. Probably would’ve accepted if he brought home a pig in drag as long as he was happy.”

Randy raises an eyebrow and after a second Brad admits: “I’m just jealous I suppose. For me, it’s only Jennifer who knows. How pathetic’s that? Biggest support is my ex-girlfriend. Well, and you.”

He spits the last words out in an attempt to lighten the mood and fails.

“I’m pretty sure mom would be okay with it.”

“I know. But then she’s so over enthusiastic. I don’t want her to drag me to manicure or something!”, and saying this Brad sounds actually scared, so Randy does what boys do according to their father and punches Brad in the shoulder.

“She’s not actually that bad, you know. I’m sure you’d be getting off with a trip to the hairdresser.”

The opportunity of a joke about hairdressers and Brad changing his career plans appears and Randy is wise enough to ignore them.

“Plus, I’m afraid, after tonight she does know. You weren’t exactly subtle there.”

He can hear Brad gulp. “I know.”

“Want me to talk to her?”

“No!”, Brad props himself up on one elbow to look at his brother. “Most definitely not.”

And Randy makes a mental note to most definitely talk to their mother about subtlety, while Brad continues: “I just couldn’t take it. I mean, can you imagine what he will be like, when he finds out?”

He can, but still feels obligated to calm Brad down. “Maybe he will not be so –“

“So what?” Brad interrupts angrily. “He will not be so Tim? I know he’s probably not going to kick me out or something. But he will make jokes, now more than ever. Whenever I go to a match, whenever I’m working on the Hotrod, whenever I do, you know, ‘Men’s stuff’, I will get to hear it. I don’t want to be the laughing stock of this family Brad, I don’t.

And I don’t want to see the disappointment in my father’s eyes. My father who used to be so proud of his first-born. Do you think he is going to tell the boys at the workshop? Do you think he’s going to take me and Jason fishing?” Brad’s voice is getting agitated now and he takes a second to steady his breath, then goes on, much calmer, almost dejected. “I can’t stand it, Randy. I can’t.“

Randy doesn’t know what to say, he honestly doesn’t, because his brother, who never was an outsider or emotionally aware in his life, is right and there’s no denying it. So he nudges him slightly and then just hugs him. For a moment Brad goes stiff but then accepts this rare display of brotherly love.

“I know, Brad.”

They stay silent for a moment. “But you know what else I’m sure about?”

“What?”

“You are my big brother. That makes you the strongest person I know by default. Don’t let that shit get you down.”

He waits a second. “No homo, though.”

And Brad cracks a smile. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m worrying over nothing.“

“Wanna grab a snack to make up for that disaster of a dinner?”

“Yeah.”

But while they are walking down the stairs, they see Mark’s door slammed shut and hear their parents arguing.

“…all I’m saying is you could try for once, Tim, just try!”

“Hey, don’t blame me! How was I supposed to know one of my sons is a faggot?”

“TIM!”

Brad freezes just when Tim and Jill turn to the boys and he turns on the spot. “You know, on second thought, I think I’m not hungry anymore.”

“Brad, I’m sorry!”, Tim, who for once knows he’s done something stupid, yells after him, but Brad flees to his room. This time he locks his door.


	2. Chapter 2

It’s dark outside when Tim offers to take the trash out, a flimsy excuse to stand in the garden for a while and wait for Wilson to sort out his problems. Jill sees right through her husband, she knows their routine that happens far more often than it should, but says nothing.

So Tim checks the drains in their backyard, and shuffles his feet and thinks about how the roof could need a new coat, until finally: “Is that you, Wilson?”

“Of course, neighbour Tim. What can I do for you?”

“Do? Nothing, I just was out here and thought people nowadays never talk to their neighbours, so maybe I-“

“Tim.”

And Tim stops to sigh. “You know, Wilson, I just found out something about my family and…” He trails off, and then decides to start a different approach. “Now imagine Wilson you knew someone all their lives and you think you really know them. You’re proud of them. And then you find out they’ve been lying to you the whole time. They are not who you thought you be.”

The strange man in the half-shadows grunts in agreement and Tim continues: “For example, they told you they like clams for dinner, they really love them. You’ve seen them ordering them a few times, bring them home for dinner…and then, one day, you realise, they’ve been having hotdogs behind your back all the time! What would you do?”

Wilson looks at Tim in silence for a while like he’s trying to figure out what’s going on in his younger neighbour’s simple mind this time. “Tim…this isn’t by any chance about Brad and his charming young boyfriend, now, is it?”

“You knew?” Tim expresses his utter disbelief, though deep down inside him he somehow expected Wilson to know, hoped for it even. Wilson laughs heartily.

“Of course, Tim.” He dons his deerstalker and adds: “Well, I did not know. I suspected.”

“But how?”, Tim inquires, honestly at his wit’s end.

“Now, for one, he’s been positively glowing for the last few weeks.”

“Yeah, even I noticed that.”, Tim admits. “But I thought it was about the new alternator he found for the hot rod.”

Wilson chuckles. “Perhaps that also played a part. But then, there was of course the dead giveaway, that he brought home young Jason so often. That and the stolen kisses, when no one was looking.”

Tim grimaces. “So that’s who it is about? Jason? Hmm. Never figured him for a…” He trails off knowing he’s in dangerous waters. “But then again neither did I figure Brad to…well to like…” He makes an non-committing gesture with his arms and Wilson takes a deep sigh.

“Oh, Tim…seems like you’re deep in trouble this time. This isn’t so much about Brad not telling you about his amorous adventures and more about with whom he’s having them, right?”

“Yes. No. Both, I suppose. I don’t mind. I’m not one of those rednecks who think everything besides marrying your sister is a sin. But I just don’t know how to talk to those people.”

“Those people? Tim, he’s your son!”

“I know. And he always will be. But what do we have in common now? I mean, with Randy, it would be easier. He’s always been the intellectual one. I don’t know what he’s talking ‘bout half the time as it is. And Marc’s still a little boy. But Brad…Brad was always the one of my boys I could figure out. Nothing complicated. He’s basically just like me. Cars, tools, sports and that’s it. I liked that.”

“A-hu…” Wilson uses the short silences to show his sympathy but he does not interrupt Tim.

“And…I think it’s weird. Okay, there I said it. I just don’t get why a man would want to be like that. Talking about clothes and stuff. It’s just odd.”

“Tim, I think you let your opinion be guided too easily by some unrealistic and harmful stereotypes.”

“Huh?” Wilson smiles at Tim’s guttural expression of confusion and elaborates.

“Did you realise something was different about Brad in the last few weeks?”

“No.”

“And why was that?”

“Because I’m an idiot who doesn’t think about other people’s feelings at all?”

“Maybe”, Wilson guwaffs, “but that’s not what I was thinking about. I was thinking about the fact that he spend a great deal more time in the garage with Jason than he should have over his homework. I was thinking about last weeks match he won for his team. I was thinking about him telling me only just yesterday how he’s looking forward to your guys’ camping trip next month.”

Tim rubs his hands and avoids Wilson’s gaze. “You mean he hasn’t changed at all.”

Wilson nods. “Except for the fact that he now has one more person to share his life with. To support him. To accept him.”

It’s apparent how bad Tim feels right now. “I want to do that, too, you know. Be the one to support my sons, to accept them, no matter what. Heck, I would even accept it, if he suddenly supported the Rangers.”

“Then why is this so hard for you, Tim?”

Another deep sigh. “I don’t know. I don’t mind people having different interests. I don’t mind this girlish stuff about talking about your feelings and stuff. I think it’s great when Jill does it. But…You know, ever since I grew up I had this fixed idea about what a real man is like. And men don’t…make out with other men. And I know it’s stupid and that that’s not really the case anymore, but still… I think it will just take me some time to readjust that picture.”

Wilson tilts his head a bit and examines Tim for a while. “It’s never easy to give up believes we’ve grown attached to, Tim. But see, Plato for example would have had a completely different opinion on that matter.”

“Is that the new pizza guy down the road?”

“No, Tim, he was a Greek philosopher.”

“Oh.”

“He believed, among many other things, that humans were originally created as spheres or orbs consisting of two souls. Most had a male and a female soul linked together. Some had two male parts and some two females.”

“Uhuh”, Tim voices his poor understanding.

“Then the gods split up those souls and ever since then we’ve been doomed to search for our other half all our lives.”

“Uhuh.”

“Now the thing is, the Greece, they held masculinity to be the highest crown of humanity, the epitome of morality.”

“Hur-hur-hur.” Of course, Tim gets overjoyed with this concept.

“And, as the only way to a happy life was to behave virtuous, it was only natural to strive for this ideal in all aspects of your live.”

“Huh?” Wilson realises he’s about to get Tim lost and sums up: “In short, Plato thought two men loving each other not to be something abnormal, but in fact the purest form of virility.”

Tim seems confused but intrigued. “So…being gay is not unmanly…but twice as manly?!”

Wilson smiles. “Yes, in a way, Tim. Of course, that’s just an ancient philosophy and not what should really matter in the end. But I thought you might find the idea helpful…”

Tim stands silent for a moment like he’s trying to grasps the essence of the conversations he’s just had, then nods. “Thank you, Wilson. I think, I should go back inside.”

“Have a good night, Tim, and talk to you soon.”

Wilson observes Tim returning into the warm brightness of his own living room and an expression of content spreads over his features still half-hidden by the fence between their gardens.


	3. Chapter 3

They haven’t talked for a week, at least nothing apart from the necessary. At times, the dark thunderclouds over the Taylor-household seem to become actually tangible. There hasn’t been another outbreak but it hasn’t been roses either.

Brad spends most of his time at Jennifer’s or at the field. It’s not like he doesn’t feel comfortable at home anymore, he just more comfortable avoiding some aspects of home alltogether. And of Jason. He hasn’t told his boyfriend yet, but he has been quieter the last few days and Jason must have caught on – he knows Brad’s father from TV after all and that’s enough to guess – and hasn’t pushed the topic, which makes Brad love him even a bit more, if that’s possible. On Saturday they plan on going to the movies and Brad has set his schedule to be back to his normal self until then.

The rest of them hasn’t been much livelier. Marc had moped for a day or so and then lost himself again in the important ongoings of the secret life of twelve-year-olds.

Randy makes a show of being so pointedly polite around their parents that it comes close to an insult and even manages to make Tim snap more than once or twice.

Tim, who has seemed to be on edge ever since that evening and has been watching his mouth so much it’s actually impressive. There has been no shouting, no blame, no questioning his decisions, nothing. It seems weird and out of place for usually that kind of remorse lasts about a day with their father and then he is back to making good-hearted jokes again, usually on Al’s cost. But nothing. Like even the attempt to joke could stir uncomfortable memories. The silence makes Brad uneasy enough to wonder if he hadn’t actually preferred an argument.

Jill had made an approach the next evening and actually it hadn’t been that bad. Their „talk“ had in the end been reduced to a short exchange while folding laundry: „You know, he doesn’t mean it that way.“ – „Uh-uh.“ – „And you know that doesn’t even begin to excuse the shit he’s been putting up.“ At that Brad had shot his mother a surprised look, who had smiled at him, while handing him his socks. „No, I guess not.“ He had seen in her eyes how much she had wanted to analyze him at that moment, but: „He will come around.“ And with that she had kissed him on the head and left and hasn’t tried to talk about that since. Sometimes Randy’s intervention skills could be quite impressive.


	4. Chapter 4

„…and that is how you finish off a nice ceramic coating.“

„A good task for a real man“, Al agrees in a rare attempt at sounding impressive, but while Tim usually takes advantage of every chance to question his assistant’s masculinity, he remains surprisingly serious.

„I’m not so sure about that, Al“, he remarks with a shake of his head. „What defines a real man, really?“

Al shoots him an incredulous look, before he answers. „I don’t know. Is this about how many roads he must walk down?“

The laughter from the audience is immediate and Tim waits impatiently for it to recede.

"Very funny, Al! Your jokes are as old as your taste in music." There is no need to admit that given different cicumstances he would probably have made the exact same joke. "But...what I am trying to say here is, I‘ve been thinking about this a bit, recently. Why would it take a „real man“ - and he actually does air quotation marks – to do this? I mean, Heidi could do this better than a lot of guys I know." The audience claps support. "And a lot of guys I know have interests that aren't exactly that manly to begin with. Tom from gaffering for example bakes the best apple pie I've ever eaten. Don't tell Jill! And Richard holds the best tea parties for his twins, hands down. The old Greeks even believed, that aman is only a real man if he can find the other half of his man-ball."

Tim pauses and looks into confused faces. It takes him a second to recover. "Anway, what I'm trying to say is: Isn't it weird that we would say liking tools is a man's thing to do? Manly hobbies change so much and so often...the only thing that stays, I think, is this: A man is a man, when he does what he loves. Doesn't matter if it's baking or drillin and doesn't matter if it changes from drilling to baking and back again, because the rest stays the same, and that's all that counts, ain't I right?"

Al tries to interrupt, but Tim continues: "And I've spent so much time thinking too much about what others thought to be manly that I missed out on a whole lot of interesting stuff. Would have never found out I kind of liked Opera were it not for Jill, right? So if people like you, Al, started thinking like this a bit more often, maybe, just maybe, the world would be a much better place. A place, where man can be man and not worry about the rest!"

This moment would be awkward, were it not for Al's congenial empathic abilities that tell him that whatever Tim's blabbering about must be important. With a good-hearted smile veiling the confusion he jumps to his side. "That’s right, Tim. A man should always be true to himself, the rest doesn't matter."

And with a roaring applause from the audience they are off air.

He doesn't ask if Brad has seen the show in the evening, even though it's obvious that it's taking all his self-restraint not to. Still, it takes the whole next day, until they talk about it. Tim hasn't even planned on it. In fact, he honestly only wanted to get a drill from the garage and hasn't had the slightest idea Brad was even at home. When he hears the clatter from underneath the Hot-Rod, he considers fleeing the scene for a second, but before he can act on the idea, Brad has appeared from under the car, oil-tainted and sweaty as ever.

"So...everything going alright?" Tim closes his eyes. He has lived in a teenage household long enough to know he is embarassing himself.

But Brad nods and gets up. "Yeah. Found the perfect part." He leans against the bonnet and looks straight at his father. A few seconds pass and then he adds: "About next weekend...Would you mind if Jason joined us?"

The surprise on Tim's face is obvious, but just as clearly mixed with happiness. "Not at all. Always good to have some more guys around, innit?" He laughs and it only sounds slightly forced.

Brad nods. "It was him, actually, who told me to watch the show. So you might want to thank him that I'm talking to you again."

Suddenly Tim finds his hands to be incredibly interesting. A few answers cross his mind. You know I'm an idiot. I am so sorry. You are still my son. I love you. But all of them are painfully cheesy and he doesn't like cheesy. And neither does Brad.

"He sounds like a great guy, this Jason."

For the first time in what feels like ages, his son smiles at him. "He really is."


End file.
